July/August 1999

The trio of pianist Stevens, bassist Ferguson, and drummer Siegel have been playing together for close to ten years. The addition of Russian trumpeter Valery Ponomarev adds color and verve to the trio's musical palette on numbers such as the dynamic "Blue Heart," Ornette Coleman's "Lonely Woman," where Ponomarev plays pocket trumpet, and the Latin standard, "Con Alma." There's also Duke Ellington's "Angelica" and eight original numbers. Stevens evokes McCoy Tyner on the opener, "Magical Spaces."